Winning ammonium gas



WINNING AMMONIUM GAS May 20 1924.

COOPER Filed Jan. is, 1922 INTERVAL ..11 1 Q u n Patented ay, 2, i924?.

raras FF ECE Il I 12'.. n l." I' N WINNING ONIUM GAS.

Application-filed January 18, 1922. Serial No. 53),058.

To all whom t may concer/lt.'

Be it known that I, AUGUSTUS` S. Coornn, a citizen ofthe United States, residing at Santa Barbara, in the county of Santa Barbara and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements v in Winning Ammonium Gas, of

/ which the following is a specification.

In various parts of the country throughout the West and particularly vthroughout the coast ranges of California there are scattered a number ofsolfataras where spontaneous combustion-of the bitumen in the shales is in operation. This earth forma.

tion is particularly found in a bluff or steep parts of California, in particular, the shales in the blufs of the ocean are undergoing spontaneous combustion. The voids in the shales composing the bluifs are filled or partly filled with porous, brown bitumen the same being composed of unsaturated hydrocarbon, with nitrogen and sul hur compound. From the vents in the b uifs sulp ur' and ammonia gases esca e. The air supporting combustion enters tlie lower portion of the bluff and the spent gases escapein the upper part thereof and the formation of the ocean bed some distance from the shore consists of burned shales, showing that combustion has been going on for a long time.

In another section of California the bluff of the oceauwas excavated for a road bed and the bluff' graded to various angles. Fragments of the shales containing porous, brown bitumen were dumped over the bluff which formed' conical piles on the sand bed of the beach. When the winter rains commenced, spontaneous combustion ensued. Many fragments of the shale were burnt to a'brlck red and some seemed to have been melted in their interior, which oozed out on their sides. Strong fumes of sulphur and the acrid odor of ammonia lled the au'.

The primary object, therefore, of the invention is to obtain ammonia, carbonate of ammonia and other ammonium salts from the rous, brown bituminous shales present in t e earth formation, above'referred to. The brown, porous bitumen consists of the unsaturated carbons, sulphurjand nitrogen compounds which when readil oxidized forms carbon dioxide, sulphur ioxide and ammonia gases, the bitumen being exceedingly porous, and along the surfaces presented to the' action of the oxygen of the atmosphere.

Reference being had to the drawing showing one formof the apparatus resorted to to obtain the roducts above referred to from the brown,l ituminous shales, a compressor designated A is a resorted to in forcing atmospheric air into the earth formation. The atmospheric air is heated by a suitable heater B, since the heated oxygen acts more energetically than when cold to accelerate combustion. The heat of the spent gases of combustion also heats the air that is being forced into the earth formation and inmany cases, is suiiicient without resorting to the use of the heater B. D andE designate pipes leading to the bottom of a bored well or hole F. *s The heated oxygen in the air is discharged into the well and of course, comes in contact withv the brown bitumen, Aso that spontaneous combustion sets in and the carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and ammonia gases are formed.v The burnt shales contract from 5% to 10%, leavin innumerable cracks for the entrance of t e atmosphere and the action of the spent gases of combustion. The heated gases passing through the pi e C heat the atmosphere in the pipes D an E, it being found that the gases of combustion consist, rimarily, of hydrogen sul hide, sulphur ioxide, carbon dioxide an ammonia gases. A tank H, filled with water, receives the gases above referred to4 and since the same are very soluble in water, a' large amount goes into solution therewith. Through the inter-action of the ammonia gases, sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide and oxygen, sulphate of ammonia and other ammonium salts are formed, from which the water may subsequently be removed by evaporation.

After the bitumen lin the vicinity of the pipes D and E is distilled and burned up, the heated atmosphere is introduced into the shale through the pipes 1 J. If the cracks through the shale do not connect the pipes I, J with thewell or hole, the shale can be fractured by exploding black power in the formation between the pipes I, J and the well above referred'to.

The difficulty of getting a circulation of the atmosphere and spent gases through the shales is the only reasonk that numerous places are not undergoing spontaneous comneous combustion, drawing o gases lill the interstices in the shales opposing the entrance of the atmosphere, then again the shales must be cracked and seamed to ermit this circulation, so in accordance wit my invention, as above referred to, this may be effected and by spontaneous combustlon all the combustibles are removed from the shale. It will thus be seen that after a well or shaft has been dug that a great area of Ithe shale may be acted upon to produce the combustion, so that the gases formed may be permitted to pass upwardly through the said well and treated to obtain the roducts above referred to.

aving described and shown my invention, what I now claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1,. The proce of obtaining ammonium salts from bituminous shales which consists in forcing heated, atmospheric air in the shales to increase the rapidit of spontathe gaseous products from the shales and dissolving the same in water and subsequently evaporating the water.

2. The process of obtaining ammonium salts from bituminous shales which consists in forcing heated, atmospheric air through an opening extending into the shales to increase the rapidity of spontaneous combustion, introducing heated air into the shales in proximity to the opening to enlarge the area of combustion, drawing oii' the gaseous products from the shales and dissolving the same under water and subsequently evaporating the water.

3. The process of obtaining ammonium salts from bituminous shales which consists in forcing heated, atmospheric air through an opening extending into the shales to increase the rapidity of spontaneous combustion, introducingheated air into the shales in proximity to the opening, fracturing the shales about said opening to permit the passage of air, thus setting up increased combustion in the enlarged area about said opening, drawing off the gaseous products and dissolving the same under water and subsequently evaporating the water.

4. That step in the method of obtaining ammonium salts from bituminousshales, which consists in compressing air, heating the compressed air, forcing the heated cornpressed air in the shales to increase the rapidity of spontaneous combustion, and drawing off the gaseous products from the shales.

In testimony whereof I affix my signa'- ture in presence of two witnesses.

AUGUSTUS STEIGER COOPER.

Witnesses:

C. C. NEUMAN, JAMES L. BAKKER. 

